As time goes by, we are all becoming more and more connected. Within any typical home, there are likely to be several consumer electronic devices that can receive signals from, and/or send signals to, an outside communication network. Cable television set-top boxes, Internet computers, cell phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), satellite dishes and telephones (old-fashioned analog, and newer digital) are just a few examples. Using the FIG. 1 home 100 as an example, there may be a number of service entry points through which these devices communicate with a corresponding outside access network. For example, there may be a coaxial cable (or hybrid fiber coax) entry point 101 for a coaxial cable from a local cable company's coaxial cable/hybrid fiber coax plant (not shown); a standard twisted pair telephone wire entry point 102 for a twisted-pair wire from a public-switched telephone network (PSTN—not shown); and a satellite dish 103 that communicates with satellite 104. Other devices may use their own interfaces, such as a cell phone 105 communicating with a cellular network 106.
These service entry points 101, 102, 103 allow the external access networks to communicate with devices within the home. The actual connections within the home may take various forms. The cable entry point 101 may have a coaxial cable that is coupled to an RF splitter 107 that splits the signal, where one signal is sent to a set-top box 108 for viewing cable television programming on a television 109, while another signal is sent to a cable modem 110 to provide Internet connectivity for a computer 111, or wireless access point 112 and wireless device 113 (e.g., a laptop computer), or IP (Internet Protocol) connectivity for a voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone 114. The twisted pair entry point 102 may have a twisted pair copper wire that is connected to an analog telephone 115, while the satellite entry point 103 may provide satellite television signals to another set-top box 116, for viewing on television 117.
The availability of all of these devices and all of these access networks allows users to benefit from a wide variety of services, but it also complicates the system. If an access network wishes to, for example, upgrade its program code or communication protocol to improve a feature or add new features, the various end user devices in the home will also need to cooperate with the upgrade (e.g., they would need to download new drivers). Requiring the cooperation of all of these devices reduces service velocity (i.e., it slows down the access network's ability to roll out new services). There is, however, an ever-present demand for more service functionality and faster updates.